PREORDER CD/LP HERE
PREORDER DIGITAL HERE
It's preeeeeeeeeorder tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!!! The day after the 4th anniversary of our very 1st release as a record label, we are very proud to present you with our 33rd - Beneath Oblivion's From Man To Dust. This 80 minute exercise in experimental doom metal is not for the faint of heart. If you lack the spine to endure challenging and confrontational music and prefer it instead to be easily digested, please delete this email immediately and go hang out on Spotify for the rest of the evening
Otherwise, you can stream a couple tracks from the album on their Bandcamp page, right HERE. The record comes out worldwide on September 27th, and all preorders will ship a couple weeks ahead of that =) In addition to the physical formats you can also preorder the album digitally via Bandcamp and receive two tracks instantly (both Concussions of the Head & Heart and Empire). The rest of the album will be delivered to you on September 27th at midnight, the albums release date. Furthermore, we will email everyone individually that preorders the album in a physical format and supply them a download code so that they can download Empire for free! Please just bear with us since we'll be sending these emails out one by one, you may not receive your download code until tomorrow. But you'll receive one!Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. Atomic Mother
3. Hope, The Deceiver
4. Concussions of the Head & Heart
5. Empire
6. Barren Earth
7. Be My Destroyer
8. From Man To Dust
"I want to stand with pride... waiting for the end to arrive" he proclaims, as a tremendous struggle is about to unfold within us all and before us all. Inwardly, outwardly. Consumed by devastation and the somber reality of a world of ash and a brain full of worms. Ruins. Ruined. From Man To Dust is an 80 minute journey through the deepest chasms of grief in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of nuclear fallout. The war inside is responsible for the war outside. Beneath Oblivion trudges onward through the 8 tracks that make up the album in an utterly ferocious manner. Crushing all preconceived notions of "devastation" as they bludgeon ahead amidst all the contempt and misery we've all caused one another. "Flush it away, I care no more... perhaps I never did" vocalist/guitarist Scott Simpson realizes on the albums second track. With the shriek of a man on fire, he condemns society and questions how we process thoughts as human beings. In a world where nobody else cared, would you? The album is as introspective as it is globally inquisitive. Detailing the direct correlation between our inner thoughts and the direct actions of man in a fractal universe. "Love is madness, and madness is inspiration". The fragile human psyche presents the hardest struggle of man, few can hold the stretching fabrics of sanity together for more than mere presentation to others. "Easy to forget, and totally permanent". With its focus on stark imagery and the contrasting beauty of destruction, the album arcs through each movement with terrifying strength. "I'm still alive, that's all I know". The lyrical composition further deals in the metaphorical sense of wordplay - detailing accounts of an apocalypse that is never completely revealed to be internal or planetary... or both. "To journey miles... over the smoldering dead... who turn to soil which yields no growth". The guitar work of Allen Lee Scott and Simpson is like shovels digging graves for all of us and they dig with the conviction and confidence of a band thats rediscovered themselves. They are fighting for it on From Man To Dust, as the rhythm section of Keith Messerle (bass) and Nate Bidwell (drums) churn through each track with the tightness of a duo that's performed together for years, though it's Messerle's first album with the band. It also marks the bands first recorded output as a four piece, creating a dense environment capable of seizing the air from your puny lungs. "Death is a being, she has inevitable tow".
The album was recorded during a sweltering heat wave in a massive, formerly abandoned warehouse in Cincinnati, OH by Andy Perkins, with samples, mixing and additional tracking done at his own Perkins Ranch in Erlanger, KY. The natural reverb from the multitude of room microphones in the gargantuan space further conveys the ambitious grandeur of the record. After the mixing of the album was completed, the whole thing was sent off to the legendary engineer/producer Billy Anderson to master (Neurosis, High On Fire, Melvins), the resulting sound confidently captures the devastating nature of the material itself. In describing the sound in terms of something relatable for people that haven't heard the album, I suppose you could say Beneath Oblivion combine the hypnotic, churning crunch of Sleep and Electric Wizard, with the raw, broken down contempt of Grief and Buzzoven and the monolithic heaviness of Zoroaster and YOB, but also has moments containing the more eclectic elements of Agalloch-esque folk-metal and Skepticism-esque funeral doom keys. Simpson's vocals range from head splitting shrieks, more akin to black metal than doom, to guttural growls, and even into clean singing. Mix it all together with a considerably European flavored atmosphere and a twist of southern rock swagger and you're getting an idea of what the band sounds like. Artwork design for the album was handled by the bands own Allen Lee Scott II with layout duties taken care of by N.Shumaker / Northerlightsindustries.com. The vinyl version of the 80 minute epic will be a 2xLP on colored vinyl with heavy, thick gatefold jackets printed on reverse board stock. The CD will come in a thick, recycled stock reverse board digipak. The album will be released worldwide in September via The Mylene Sheath.
"Inner and outer conflicts have grown, mental, global, crumbling and too far gone."
***COLLECTORS NOTE***
The band will also have their own exclusive color of vinyl that they'll be selling on tour. They'll be on "rust" colored vinyl and these copies will not be available anywhere online, so either get out to one of these shows or find someone who is and have them snag you a copy!
9/09/2011...Harrisonburg, VA @ the Crayola House
9/10/2011...Raleigh, NC @ the DIVEbar
9/13/2011...Asheville, NC @ the Get Down
9/14/2011...Knoxville, TN @ Longbranch Saloon
9/17/2011...Nashville, TN @ the Little Hamilton Collective
There's a couple more dates in the works that we'll update and announce accordingly as they're confirmed... and there's also going to be a 9/15 date here in Athens, GA that we're scrambling to get set up, more on that also as things are confirmed =)
There is also going to be a fun preorder contest run on MetalSucks in which we'll give away a bunch of vinyl goodies and a bunch of other free swag, look for that to start running on Thursday, September 1st right HERE.
Read more about the album and the preorder right HERE
Thanks guys!
xoxo,
Lindsay & Joel
The Mylene Sheath
